You are in my Thoughts
by RustedEagleWings
Summary: The death of a close friend leaves sleepless nights for Serena, who wanders outside at night. Can she find what she is looking for or will she find more than she bargained for?


Sailor Moon One shot

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She wandered the streets at night, slipping in and out of her house by her bedroom window. Ever since the death of her best friend at the hands of a jewelry thief, she had vowed to make them pay. She wasn't sure what a small junior high schooler like herself could do, but staying awake in bed seemed like a worse option. Sighing and looking one last time at the dark alleys around her, she turned to head home. In the distance, birds began to sing, welcoming the rising sun.

xxXxx

Beep-BEEP-Beep-BEEP

The alarm finally dragged the tired 14 year old out of bed. She had heard the calls of her mother a half hour before but had chosen to ignore them. She knew what time the clock would read when she looked but she checked anyways. 8:15 AM. Tired of the facade she had chosen for herself to play, she sighed before shrieking.

"8:15? Ah! I'm going to be late!"

Running around her room, she expertly got ready for school while yelling at the top of her lungs. However, a quick glance at her watch showed that she had gotten ready too fast. She stopped and took a few minutes to think before rushing down the stairs.

"Mooom! Why didn't you wake me up on time?"

Her mother looked up from the food she was preparing. "I tried. You didn't get out of bed. I distinctly remember you saying ' just five more minutes'."

"And you believed me?"

It was an old argument. Ever since the death of Molly, her mom would just let her do whatever she wanted. At first, Irene had been worried over her daughter's behaviour but as time went on, she realized being ditzy and sleeping in was just how she was coping.

"Oh, and Serena?"

Her daughter looked up from the food she was cramming in her mouth and smiled. "Yeah?"

"I made your lunch. Have a good day at school."

Serena would never know how much her mother worried about her as she swallowed and grabbed her lunch. "Thanks."

She smiled again before running out the door. "Bye!"

xxXxx

The halls were empty when Serena got to school, having missed the last bell. She stopped just outside the door, reluctant to go in and hide behind her mask. The teachers were already mad at her. Since _that _day, Serena hadn't cared about schoolwork and she didn't bother doing her homework anymore. Today, however, she didn't hear the teacher's voice lecturing the class, but a racket of her classmate's voices. Realizing something was up, Serena rushed into the classroom.

"I'm here! I'm... What's going on?" She giggled foolishly but kept her eyes focused, examining the scene.

The whole class was at the front of the room, forming a semicircle. Lying on the ground in the middle was their homeroom teacher.

"Serena! You're here!" Mina, a blond and legitimate ditz but also a dedicated volleyball player, sprung up in front of the newcomer. "She just came into the class and fainted or something! We don't know what happened."

Serena sat on a desk and swung her legs. "Gee, that's terrible. Does this mean I rushed to school for nothing?"

"Come on Serena, can't you be serious?" Serena turned and saw a tall brunette frowning at her. She had transferred a few months ago and already claimed the title of being strongest in the class.

"Hey, Lita." Serena hadn't talked much to Lita before but obviously Lita knew who she was.

"What do you mean serious? She's just sleeping."

Her gesture caused the two girls to look again at their teacher. By now, Amy, the smartest kid in their class, was kneeling next to the unconscious woman and was checking her pulse. Everyone in the class knew Amy's good marks came from her desire to become a doctor.

The straight A student looked up. "Has anyone called the ambulance, or even told the office?"

"I don't get why. She's just sleeping." Serena muttered. "You know, maybe I'll sleep too."

She laid down on a couple of desks and closed her eyes. Sleeping, or even pretending to sleep, meant she didn't have to pretend to be cheerfully happy. Over her head, she could hear Mina and Lita complaining about her ability to sleep anywhere and anytime but she ignored them and tried to catch up on sleep.

xxXxx

She nearly didn't go out that evening; the day's events wearing her out. With their teacher on her way to the hospital, her whole class had just gone to the gymnasium with the volleyball coach and they played games all day. However, people had kept pestering her. Her prediction that their teacher had only been sleeping was partially confirmed by the paramedics and everyone wondered how a ditz had guessed correctly. Luckily for her, Mina and Lita had explained it by saying it was because she always had sleep on the brain and she just went with the flow. Still, Serena worried she showed too much intelligence.

A sudden sound brought her attention back to the present where she was crouching behind some garbage bins. Sounds were coming from a little ways beyond but she was too scared to move. A bright flash, an animal roar and an inhuman scream finally drew the small girl away from her hiding place and she ran towards her home as fast as she could.

xxXxx

When her mom came to wake Serena up, she was surprised to find her daughter sitting by the window and looking outside. Immediately, Irene knew Serena was in a rare, thinking mood. She walked into the room and sat on the bed. The sudden noise drew her daughter's attention away from the view.

"Mom, I miss Molly."

Not knowing what else to do or say, Irene drew her daughter into her arms.

"I mean, like, I miss hanging out with her, and joking around and going to her house. You know how she lived above her mom's jewelry store, right? I just don't understand why someone would kill her, even if they were trying to rob the place. And because of that, now my friend is gone." Her tirade of words ended with tears and her mother held her close, stroking her head.

Just when Irene was going to say something to comfort the crying child, the alarm went off and Serena abruptly pulled free. She turned away for a moment, wiping her eyes, before turning back, smiling sadly.

"8:15? I'm going to be late." She said softly.

xxXxx

Serena was on her way to school when she saw it. A small black kitten with Band-Aids plastered all over it. She walked over to it, glad for the excuse to be late for school.

The kitten was so still; she was worried it was dead. However, as she drew nearer, it slowly raised its head and gave a weak meow.

Slowly and gently, she peeled the bandages off one by one, but the kitten didn't seem to mind. Actually, if she didn't know any better, she might say it was getting stronger. But she ignored the state of the kitten and tried to focus only on the simple task. That was hard and she found herself thinking of that morning.

She hadn't meant to open up like that in front of her mother but after the unusual events that night and waking up early, she had just crumpled. She wondered what her mom was thinking about the experience and debated whether she should pretend it didn't happen or not.

A small squeak drew her mind back to the task at hand and she realized there was only one Band-Aid left. And it was stuck. However, after gentle force, it came off.

Serena noticed something on the kitten's head under the Band-Aid but it squirmed it's was out of her arms. Before she could stop it, the kitten was gone.

She sighed but smiled when she heard the last bell ring and knew she would have a real excuse to tell the teacher today. Briefly, she wondered if their homeroom teacher would be back, or if they were going to have a substitute.

Unknown to her, the kitten watched her leave, slowly growing in size.

xxXxx

That night, she felt like something was going to happen. The feeling had grown throughout the day and she wondered if that was why she had dressed up a little. Today, she was wearing a hoodie with a skirt and leggings, all in black. She felt like she was hunting.

A sudden scream tore across the night. Serena was on her way even before it had finished. She located the problem fairly quickly but was frozen with fear by what she saw.

A large, grotesque human was standing over a schoolgirl. A few feet back stood a man in a uniform, laughing over the sight in front of him.

"Think you can run, puny human?"

Serena wanted to help, she really did, but something told her she was way out of her league. However, she also realized these... _things..._ were probably the same creatures that killed her friend.

A streak of black and the monster fell back, away from the girl. It was a large, black panther, Serena realized, and had a glowing, crescent shaped mark on its head. The large cat looked at her and she was surprised to hear a voice in her mind.

'Serena! Transform!'

She looked around, trying to locate the voice. "Transform? Yeah right. Like I'm going to change into a stupid, frilly outfit to fight this guy." She watched enough anime.

'Fine! No frills, but you have to...' The voice was cut off in the same moment that the panther had to avoid a swipe from the monster and Serena realized whose voice it was.

"How?"

Following the quick instructions, Serena put her hand in the air and shouted the words the cat told her. A flash of light, and she was surprised to find herself in different clothing, sort of. The style of the clothing was mostly the same, however the colours were different. White hoodie, navy skirt and leggings and red boots. The only changes were the navy hood with a red bow and a staff she now held in her hand. And, on her forehead, was a glowing crescent mark.

Unsure of what to do but knowing she needed to do something; she ran up to the monster and bashed it on the head with the staff. A small explosion of sparkles and the monster disappeared.

'Well, not the way I would have done it but it worked.'

The large cat came over to her and Serena could now see the resemblance. It was the same kitten as before, only larger.

She had many questions but only chose one.

"Are you going to explain?"

The cat nodded, as much as cats can, and spoke inside her mind. 'It is your destiny as Sailor Moon. I am Luna, I am here to help you fight those monsters with a group of similar warriors for justice and...'

The cat stopped as Serena began to walk away.

'Where are you going?'

"I don't care about fighting monsters for justice. I'm only doing this for Molly, my friend who was killed by those monsters. You could call it revenge. And I work alone."

Luna seemed about to respond when a sound interrupted them.

"Molly? Serena, is that you?"

Both turned to see the girl the monster had been bent over. Immediately, Serena realized who she was and Luna recognized her by the mark glowing on her forehead.

"Amy."

'Sailor Mercury.'

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For now, I will leave this as a completed story. If enough people wish for it, I might add more chapters later.


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